November 23, 2009

We've been poking along....in West Virginia now. Our last RV Park was called "Shady Rest." Oh boy, I knew it would come to this. We'll do some sight seeing today but I find that I have all the time in the world to do stuff that I didn't do at home. Time to put 2-3 lotions on my face in the morning, time to work on my (chewed and spit out my acrylics before we left) nails, time to work on my age spots. Who needs spa dermabrasion when you've got a Dremel tool? My hands and feet are actually looking much smoother and the tiny little scabs are healing nicely.

We also have time for games. Years ago, Chuck taught me the version of Backgammon that he learned in the Navy. He calls it Acey-Deucy. We've had various tournaments over the years but hadn't played for a long time. So - yesterday we started the "RV Grand Tour Tournament." I lost the first game. He messed with my mind by continually throwing up the fact that I owe him $3,686.00 from the "Bali Tour." So?

We're starting to get a bit more comfortable. Until I learn more, my jobs are: opening and closing the blinds, placement and removal of the leveling blocks, pin-girl and hose-girl. I forgot to mention one of our earliest disasters - when I was first appointed hose-girl. RVs contain holding tanks - one for black water (sewage), gray water (from sink and bath drains) and drinking water. Our dashboard controls indicate how full each of these tanks are and whenever the opportunity arises, we dump the black and gray water. This is done by attaching a large hose to a connection on the RV which then runs into a little hole in the ground at the dump site (most RV parks and other select locations). You then pull out a lever on the RV - either black or gray - to allow the chosen fluid to run. Chuck, acting as the lever man, instructed me to put my foot on top of the hose to keep it in place...but HE let the black lever out too quickly and the hose went rogue. We've now purchased a fail-safe connection for the end of the dump hose; he's just lucky I have a lifetime of experience with "it" and I'm not talking Michael Jackson here.

A couple of other products have made our life easier. Contact makes a fantastic liner that we bought at Bed, Bath and Beyond. Really, really keeps things from sliding. It can be cut up into any shape - so, we've pretty much got it plastered all over. We also bought a tiny Flex vacuum cleaner made by Black and Decker. It's just great for clean ups and is superior for bug collection. I really don't like killing anything but it seems a bit less direct using the vacuum. Before we left, the RV got infested with those miserable asian beetles that masquerade as the lovely ladybug. Chuck loves to "zap 'em with the vacuum." We thought we were gaining ground on them but have seen some little ones recently.....The other product I'm loving is our new floor mat made by Gold's Gym. My job as pin-girl involves getting under the car to insert a pin which holds the ramps of the car dolly up when in motion. I have to do it as it is too hard on Chuck's knees to get up and down. A couple of days of doing this on pokey gravel were enough. The folding floor mat works great when I have to insert the pin or the leveling blocks under the RV and is easy to store...geez, maybe it would work for doing exercises too. Nahh.

Love to you all -